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Tag: Marxman pipe

A Marxman Quarter Bent Big Boy Rhodesian Restoration

December 18th, 2023

Written and photographed by John M. Young

The title of this one is a mouth full. I was happily calling this Marxman a pot throughout the photography, restoration and transfer of the images. When typing the restoration, I asked a Marxman connoisseur, Briar Lee of PipesMagazine.com forum fame, “What would this Marxman shape be called?” He quickly messaged me the answer: “That is a quarter bent Big Boy Rhodesian.” Firstly, thank you, Briar Lee. Secondly, now I have to go and change the titles of 56 computer files from “Marxman pot…” to “Marxman quarter bent Big Boy Rhodesian…”. Oh, if only there were an app for THAT.

This Marxman, not a pot, came to me via an eBay auction. If you have frequented this blog, you will have seen a couple of other Marxman pipes restored. If you are a new viewer, welcome. I love old Marxman pipes made before the founder sold the company to MasterCraft in 1953.

Yes, the big ugly chunky Marxman pipes. A buddy describes one of my Marxman pipesas, “It’s like a tank made love to a lovat.” and he continued. “Not a brand new tank. Like an old one that went through two or three world wars.” Thank you, Don Cole. He was referring to the beauty to the left. I don’t have to try very hard to see exactly what he meant.

(German Tiger Tank) (Lovat)

I will again refer to the best sources for information available to pipe hobbyists pipedia.org and piphil.eu. Pipedia’s short history of Marxman pipes reads as thus:

“Marxman (Marxman Pipe Company) was created by Robert (Bob) L. Marx in 1934, when he was 29, and after he had worked for the William Demuth Company. His pipes were not outstanding because of the quality of their wood (probably Algerian), but Bob started making unique sculpted pieces, which brought the brand fame in the World of Hollywood cinema. Actors like Zachery Scott, Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, Joel McRae, and Ronald Reagan were some of the faces that appeared on the bowls. Bob new how to innovate and took full advantage of marketing and press advertising in order to sell the brand–one of his slogans being “Relax with a Marxman”.” (Marxman – Pipedia)

In my last Marxman blog (Marxman Super Briar) I discussed the prices of Marxman pipes and adjusted them to current U.S. dollars. Briar Lee messaged me with some thoughts of his regarding Marxman pricing and pipe lines.

“In my experience, how to tell … a Big Boy … Marxman is:

1. No size stamp. If there’s a B or C those were $7.50 or $10 pipes.

2. The inside of the bowl is at least .850. Most are bigger.

3. Most have thick shanks with saddle stems.

4. 60 to 90 grams. Two or three times more than usual 30 gram medium size.

5. Not always, but usually no Jumbo or Benchmade or Super Briar grade stamp. Most common is just Marxman with arrow over IMPORTED BRIAR.”

The stamping that Briar Lee is referring to is:

(photo by J.M. Young)

And,

“All the beautiful full page of a national magazine in color advertisements Marx ran in Look, the Saturday Evening Post and other such big circulation magazines would have the 400 at $25, a Jumbo at $10, a Benchmade at $7.50 and a Super Briar at $5 and a Mel-o at $3.50.

Not any mention of his figural pipes at all.

Sometimes in the fine print there was a $15 size.

My guess is almost all pipes over $5 were bought as gifts.

The B and C size Jumbos are big pipes, too.

But the $15 size were not just huge (for the forties) but magnificent, the ones in the top of the store display.” (Briar Lee, personal communication)

Using an inflation calculator and comparing November 1945 to November 2023 we can see that $3.50-$25 is equivalent to $59-$424. (https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm) The $15 and $25 ($254 and $424) Marxmans were not the price ranges of lower quality pipes nor were they the pipes of the “everyman” who was having a pipe. These were the luxury items of their time. I could not find a 1945 Dunhill catalog but did find a 1951.

(File:Dunhill catalog 1951 11.jpg – Pipedia)

The prices are indicated in pounds. Below are historical exchange rates of the U.S. Dollar to the British Pound Sterling for 1950.

A £10 Dunhill in 1950 would have cost approximately $28.50 (10 / 0.3508) or a £50 Dunhill would be $142.50 (50 / 0.3508). In today’s dollars these would be $354 and $1,771.45 respectively. Dunhill, then and now, a luxury item.

The Marxman pipe that this blog is dedicated to is a quarter bent Big Boy Rhodesian. The date of manufacture would be between 1934 and 1953 and was probably a $15 pipe in 1945. Upon arrival the pipe looked like this.

The condition of the pipe was very good for a pipe of this age and use. The tobacco chamber appeared to have been either frequently reamed or seldom used. The rim had evidence of lava but no heavy deposits. The stem showed no heavy denting nor chatter from teeth. I was pretty sure this was going to be a simple restoration.

The first step was to completely ream the tobacco chamber and sand it to bare briar. This was done with a PipNet reaming tool with the largest size blade, Smokingpipes Low Country reaming knife and a General triangular

scraper. The reaming eliminated the minimal cake quickly. Further scraping with the knives was required as the chamber diameter was larger than the largest blade of the PipNet. The chamber was then sanded with 220 wet dry sandpaper and my finger. Those huge bowls are so nice and easy to sand with a finger.

With the reaming finished I took the stummel to the sink for a scrub with Murphy’s Oil Soap. The Murphy’s was used undiluted. The scrubbing was done with a medium bristle toothbrush. All of those nooks and crannies of the rustication trapped a significant amount of dirt and grime. After the first scrub I poured on another blob of Murphy’s and scrubbed the stummel a second time. The Murphy’s was then rinsed with war mater and dried with a cotton dish towel.

I returned to the workbench and used a 95% ethyl alcohol soaked make-up removal pad to vigorously rub the entire stummel. The pad was quickly shredded by the rusticated surface but little color came off the pipe indicating that there was no stain nor finish used on this briar. It probably was only treated with wax from the factory. At this stage the pipe stummel looked like this:

I thought, “wow, this is going fast and easy”. Yeah, I know, “why did you say that? Now the next thing you do is going to be terrible.” I am pretty sure those were the same words that George Armstrong Custer said prior to running into the Sioux nation on June 25th 1876. Okay, I think you can see where this is going and I admit to exaggeration. Custer didn’t run into the whole Sioux Nation, just a large number of irate Lakotas and some Cheyenne. I, on the other hand, narrowly escaped defeat with the cleaning of this shank.

The first thing to do when cleaning a shank is to moisten a cotton swab with alcohol and rub it around the inside of the shank. Often the first rub in the shank doesn’t look so bad as the alcohol is actually starting to dissolve the tars and dried oils in the airway. The second alcohol dipped swab then goes into the shank and gets introduced to the now softened yuck (technical term used in restoration for tars, oils or general filth). This poor second swab can

become very darkly stained and covered in yuck. That is exactly what happened except it wasn’t just the second cotton swab it was the 2nd through the 46th. To be fair, I alternated with using the dental pick to scrape the walls of the airway, filling the airway with alcohol and scrubbing it with a nylon brush, cotton swabbing, wrapping a piece of a paper towel around a round needle file and scrubbing with the paper towel then back to cotton swabs. In other words the

airway was doing a very good impression of the La Brea Tar Pits without any dead megafauna. After what seemed like eternity, I packed the tobacco chamber and shank with cotton and poured in 95% ethyl alcohol until the cotton was saturated and the alcohol pooled slightly. I then turned my back on the stummel and let it soak overnight.

In the morning, the cotton looked like this. I began with another alcohol soaked cotton swab. I quickly became loaded with dissolved tar and yuck. I

began scraping with the dental pick and then swabbing. Just when I was about to surrender the cotton swabs started to lighten. They

changed from dark brown to a lighter golden brown then to light brown, then tea stained, then clean. I was victorious, unlike Custer.

This whole filthy shank admittedly took me by surprise. The bowl had been in good condition, indicating a cleaning regimen, the stem did not appear heavy chewed on again indicating that care was taken with this pipe. Then to find a shank that had apparently never had any type of cleaning surprised me.

On to the stem. The draw of the stem seemed open but it did have the taste and smell of old tobacco residue and tar. I could see light through it so, how bad could it be? The first bristle pipe cleaner was dipped in alcohol and would not go all the was through. I just scrubbed back and forth with the length that would pass. Upon repeating I was able to get the next pipe cleaner further. The next went even further after 4, I could get a pipe cleaner through the entire stem. They were still coming out stained with the before mentioned yuck. Another two, still yuck. I then moved to a churchwarden bristle pipe cleaner. I dipped the pipe cleaner as far as possible into the alcohol bottle, clamped one end in the vice and threaded the stem onto the other end. Holding the free end in one hand I moved the stem up and down along the length of the pipe cleaner. This cleaned out the remaining residue. Subsequent normal pipe cleaners then came out clean.

The exterior of the stem was in good shape. It may not have been pretty but

There was not actually much to do. I used 0000 steel wool eliminate most of the surface oxidation from the vulcanite. I used a dental scraper to clean out the corners where the button meets the stem. Then I used Soft Scrub with OxyClean on make-up pads to vigorously rub/scrub the stem. The pads would quickly become discolored requiring me to use a clean spot on the pad or to replace the pad altogether. After 5 pads or so, the stem was really looking good. I then reattached the stem to the stummel. Hmm, all that stummel scrubbing must have made the stem fit a bit loose.

It might have tightened up with a smoke or two but I did not like the loose fit. I used a dry-brushing paint brush and black cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) to increase the diameter of the tenon. I placed a drop of CA onto the

tenon and used the brush to paint a very thin layer onto the tenon. Avoiding the shoulder of the stem. The stem was then set aside to dry. I hardened within a few minutes. I then tried fitting tenon into the mortise. It was still loose, better but loose. I applied another drop of CA and “repainted” the tenon and allowed it to dry. After the second coat of CA i used a 3600 micro-mesh pad to polish the tenon then tested the fit. Perfect. The paint brush was cleaned with acetone after each use.

Okay, let’s try reattaching again. I reattached the stem to the stummel – nice. I was ready for the micro-mesh pads. I covered the MARXMAN stamp with painters tape to protect it from sanding. I remembered that I wanted to get

rid of 2 small sand pits on the rim and the one remaining dent on the inside rim. The photo doesn’t show the pits but trust me, they were there. I used a fly tying bodkin to apply a small drop of CA to the pits/dent, I then forced a pinch of briar dust into the CA wetted pit/dent. The CA sets up nearly instantly. The fill was then carefully filed using a flat needle file and sanded with 400 sandpaper. This briar that Marxman used is incredibly soft. You can easily dent it with your fingernail. This softness makes it difficult to work and if there is one grain out of place on your sandpaper it will scratch the surface.

The micro-meshing was tedious on the wide smooth rim due to the softness of the briar. The stem went quite well. I started with the 1500 micro-mesh pad after wards I wiped down the briar with an alcohol dampened make-up pad and I rubbed a drop of Obsidian Oil over the stem and wiped it with a paper towel. I then moved to the next micro-mesh pad. Each pad was used in succession with the same wiping between each. When I got to the 6000 micro-mesh pad I removed the painters tape from the stummel and wiped the area free of any adhesive with the alcohol pad. I then progressed through the remaining micro-mesh pads.

I took the pipe to the buffer for the application of several coats of carnauba wax. Once finished I gave the pipe a final buffing with a microfiber cloth. I took the pipe upstairs for some photographs. I had some sunlight to work with and wondered if I would like the lighting with the low angle nearly winter sun. With the bright light I could see oxidation on the stem below the button. I did not like this and returned the pipe to the workbench and the 400 sandpaper. After the sanding the same micro-meshing procedure was repeated for the upper end of the stem. That made it look much better in both normal and brightly lit settings.

Tis pipe proved to have hidden and unexpected issues regarding the level of yuck in its shank. Perhaps that is a sign from above, to remind me that things are not always as they seem. The same way that this less than beautiful pipe can provide unparalleled smoking pleasure. I actually smoked this pipe as I was typing this, earlier. Typical of a Marxman of this type and era it smoked amazingly. Cool and delightful are the words that come to mind. I immediately berated myself for complaining about the soft briar. That very briar is what makes these Marxman pipes the wonders that they are. I guess I will just have to smoke them more often to avert my forgetfulness. If you have found anything here useful or entertaining click that like and subscribe. Thank you so much for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the Marxman quarter bent Big Boy Rhodesian, both with sun and without..

The stem photos in the sun were taken before redid the area near the button.
A Marxman Super Briar

December 14th, 2023
Bent Bulldog Restoration

Written and photographed by John M. Young

The bulldog, easily one of my favorite shapes. The other day I was discussing my favorite shapes and I joked that my top 3 list of pipe shapes had 5 contestants. This ridiculous statement indicates my inability to choose only 3 or that my math skills are subpar. Either way the Bulldog or Rhodesian is definitely on the list. The subject of this blog is a Marxman bent bulldog The shape comes directly from the Marxman catalog, circa 1945:

(Marxman – Pipedia)

This Marxman bent bulldog was purchased individually on eBay. Yes, there are some people that purchase a Marxman pipe individually and not just one of an estate lot. I get the impression that there is a prevailing idea that Marxman pipes are pipes of lower quality. Let us examine some common claims:
1. Marxman pipes were cheap.
Marxman did not produce any $.50 to $1.00 pipes. Judging by the Marxman catalogs and print ads $2.50, $3.00, $5, $7.50, $10and $15 were the 1945 prices of Marxman pipes. $1 in 1945 = $17 today thus, $42-255 in today’s dollars. (https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm)

Comparing Marxman to 1946 Yello-bole print ads, Yello-bole pipes are listed at $1 and $1.50 (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:YBShankLogo16.jpg)
1. Marxman pipes are full of fills.
Look at the time frame. Marxman started the company in 1934 and sold it to Mastercraft in 1953. Other than the first 5 and last 5 years, World War 2 affected the ability to access Mediterranean briar. (Marxman – Pipedia)

I have Marxman pipes with many fills and with no fills, indicating that they used the briar that they could obtain.

I have yet to find a Marxman pipe that has more fills than I have birthday candles on my cake. Yeah MasterCraft, that is aimed at you.
1. Marxman pipes are less than attractive (AKA Ugly). Okay, I’ll give you that one.
2. Marxman used those ugly worm trail carvings to hide cheap briar.
Perhaps those carvings are the best way to work the soft Algerian briar that smoke so well.
1. Algerian briar is of poor quality.
Now that is a loaded statement. Search any pipe smoker forum for “Algerian briar” and you will find opinions as to it being the “best” to “barely fit for pipe making”. I have examples of exceptionally smoking pipes made from Algerian briar.

As for this Marxman Super Grain Bent Bulldog I can say that it was made in New York City (Marxman Pipes Inc., was located at 27 West 24th St. New York 10, NY.) between the dates of 1934-1953. (Marxman – Pipedia).

When this Marxman arrived it looked like this:

Everything a guy who loves to restore old pipes would possibly want. It is going to need the following: Tobacco chamber reaming, rim topping, scratch removal, fill replacement, button reconstruction, figure out why the stem won’t go in all the way, general cleaning and surface restoration. Better get started, eh?

The first thing I addressed was the stem issue. Looking down the airway with a flashlight I could see lots of yuck. Yuck is the technical term for any unwanted smoking residue. I don’t think I had ever seen chunks of yuck

before but they were there. I used a dental scraper and a drill bit (slightly smaller than the mortise drilling) to clear the mega-yuck. Mega-yuck is a newer technical term used to describe large pieces of yuck. When the stem was reinserted there was still an undesirable gap. Hmm, I’ll check it again after the reaming and scrubbing.

That was a nice segway to the next task, the reaming of the tobacco chamber. I used the number two sized blade with the PipNet reaming tool to clear the

majority of the chamber. The Smokingpipes reaming knife and the General triangular scraper were also used to rid the chamber of the cake. This was followed by a sanding of the interior with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel and sandpaper on my finger. When finished I could see no damage to the interior of the chamber. I also scraped the rim lightly with the General scraper to remove the worst of the lava.

Next stop on the tour is the sink, for a Murphy’s Oil Soap scrub. The Murphy’s is used undiluted while the scrub is done with a medium bristle toothbrush. This eliminated the years worth of accumulated dirt and grime from the exterior of the stummel. The rim still retained blackened areas. I was hoping that they were lava but I could now see some of it was charred briar from lighters and/or matches. The stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel.

I returned to the workbench and gave the stummel a wipe with a make-up removal pad soaked in 95% ethyl alcohol. The pad removed very little, only showing a yellowish smudge after the wipe. This indicated that there was little to no finish remailing and that the stummel was natural, not dyed/stained. I allowed the stummel to dry while I turned my attention to the stem.

Earlier in the day I had given the reaming knives and pocket knife a diamond stone sharpening. I used the pocket knife to scrape the surface of the stem. I did this holding the blade 90 degrees to the surface of the stem. I very lightly brought the blade towards me. This works very similar to a woodworking card

scraper. An amazing device that allows a woodworker to remove very thin layers of material. I was able to scrape the calcium deposits and the outermost oxidation from the stem. I then used 0000 steel wool to further smooth the surface.

I wanted to deal with the charred rim next. I used a technique described to me by a Germain Facebook buddy, Sascha Mertens. He said to rub the charred area with petroleum jelly then lightly scrape it with a very sharp knife edge. By doing this very slowly and carefully I was able to remove a very thin layer of

charred wood. I would wipe the blade on a make-up pad and repeat. When additional petroleum jelly was needed I applied more. Once finished removing the charred areas I very lightly topped the rim using 400 sandpaper.

Next on the agenda was to clean out the airway. The stem was removed. The stinger was removed from the stem and dropped into a medicine cup with alcohol. While the stinger was soaking I dipped a pipe cleaner in the 95% ethyl alcohol and ran it through the stem. It came out very dirty. Where the alcohol touched my finger on the stem the surface felt slippery then tacky. Wait a minute! This is not vulcanite. As the alcohol evaporated I was left with a fingerprint on the stem where my finger had been. Okay, no more alcohol for you, stem. I switched to cleaning the stem with soap and water with the pipe cleaners. I am guessing that the stem was Bakelite or a bakelite-like material.

With the stem done I started cleaning the stummel airway. It too was rather filthy. Oh yeah, I remember the yuck and mega-yuck from earlier. Well, it hadn’t gotten andy better. I started with a cotton swab dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. It returned dark brown. I figured that I could continue with a kajillion more cotton swabs or I could pour 3 ml of the alcohol into the bowl and use the nylon brush to scrub the yuck in an alcohol bath. I went with the alcohol bath and brush route. I scrubbed for a while, dumped the alcohol out, assessed the color and repeated with clean alcohol. I did this 4 times before the alcohol came back not looking like black coffee. Once it was more teacolored I switched over to the cotton swabs. After about 10 swabs the shank airway was clean.

The pipe was reassembled without the stinger, wiped with alcohol and photographed. The post-scrub Marxman was looking significantly better. As a bonus the stem now fit snugly with the stummel. Small victories are accepted without question.

Next, that ugly fill by the stem had to go. There is just something about

those pink fills that makes me a bit crazier than normal. I used a fly tying bodkin to see how securely attached the fill material was. Yay, I popped right out.

It was deeper than I thought but was not worried about the structural integrity of the proximity to the mortise edge. Wow, that sentence made me sound all kids of intelligent – I will stop that at once. Yes, it was close to the edge but the replacement fill of cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust would be far stronger and better bonded to the briar than the pink goo (goo, a technical term describing anything either black or pink in pipe restoration) ever had been.

To fill in this larger pit, I placed a large drop of brown CA onto a small plastic lid. I then placed a pinch of briar dust next to the CA. Using the fly tying bodkin I dragged some briar dust into the CA and stirred the dust into the CA. I repeated this until the CA/dust had a consistency of syrup. If you add too much dust the magic smoke will rise from the mixture and it will set up immediately. This requires you to start over. (So, I hear…). Upon starting over and repeating the mixing, I then applied the mixture to the area needing to be filled with the bodkin. The CA set-up very quickly and allowed filing and sanding within minutes.

Tape applied to the stem to protect it from filing.

Once filed flat the tape was removed.

Sanding with 400 sandpaper.

This little sand pit was filled by placing a small drop of brown CA in the hole. A small pinch of briar dust was placed onto the CA and pressure was applied to the dust, forcing it into the hole. The CA set-up immediately filled the pit and C.A. Filmore was born. The small fill was then carefully filed smooth and sanded.

Hello, my name is C.A. Filmore and I will be your tour guide. Hmm, you may want to use nitrile gloves.

To rebuild the button I used a technique that I have not seen other restorers use. I first smoothed the area below the button with 400 sandpaper.

Scotch tape applied to the stem immediately below the button.

Black CA applied to the button to build-up the area.

The CA was spritzed with accelerant and “cut” at the back of the button with an Exacto knife while the CA was still soft. You only have a few seconds between the spritzing and the curing of the CA. The “cut” needs to be made during these critical seconds when the CA is still soft.

Scotch tape removed along with the CA that was “cut”.

The new button is shaped with needle files and sandpaper.

With the fills filled and the button rebuilt, all that remained was the micro-meshing of the stummel and stem. I kept both pieces attached during this process in order to keep the hard angles of their juncture. The 1500 and 1800 micro-mesh pads were moistened with a drop of water. Between each pad I would wipe the stummel with a make-up pad moistened with alcohol and would apply a drop of Obsidian Oil to the stem, work it in with my finger and wipe it off with a paper towel. I would then move to the next micro-mesh pad. The finer micro-mesh pads were all used in sequence, dry, with the same wiping with alcohol and oil to the stummel and stem respectively.

Upon completing the micro-meshing I applied a slathering of Before and After Restoration Balm to the pipe (stummel and stem) and allowed it to marinate for 20 minutes.

After the Restoration Balm had done it’s thing for 20 minutes, I removed the excess with a clean cotton rag. The pipe was really looking good. I took it down to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax.

This old Marxman Super Grain bent bulldog turned out amazingly well. I did give it a smoke and that too was amazing. I do not know what it is about Marxman pipes but, the pipes made in New York from Algerian briar are some of the finest smoking pipes I have ever used. They remain cool, require no break in and deliver a sweetness that is just amazing. I hope you have found some of the techniques used here helpful in your own restorations or were at least entertained. If you enjoy this sort of thing please hit the like and subscribe below. Thank you very much for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Here are some photos of the finished Marxman Super Grain Bent Bulldog:
A Marxman Regular Apple Restoration

November 14th, 2023

Written and photographed by John M. Young

I remember when I first started down my pipe restoration path. I’d picked up an estate lot figuring that would be the best way to practice and hone my skills. Within the lot there was a dark dirty poorly grained small billiard pipe. The stamping said “MARXMAN”. It was quite nondescript. I immediately had an aversion to the name, as many of my generation might, Carl Marx was no hero of mine. I started researching Marxman pipes to find out more about this company which I hadn’t heard of. As I read, I became fascinated. Yes, many of the Marxman pipes were filled with fills, others so ugly that they were kind of cute, and there were the carved pipes of people (effigies that today would probably get you in trouble for being racist), animals and famous celebrities as well as the traditional pipe shapes. Indeed something for everyone.

The history of Robert (Bob) Marxman was also intriguing. To start a company at 29 years old and turn it into a successful business is impressive but to do that when the world is at war and the supply of your main material, briar, is cut off due to the war is even more impressive. Then to see the marketing; innovative, clever, good advertising all creating success. I saw parallels in Marxman’s business to things we do in restoration – like making the best with what you have. I also discovered that there is no book about the history of Marxman. There are great books that can be used to research Falcon pipes or Peterson pipes and web sites for Dr. Grabow and Custom-bilt pipes but alas, little to go on for Marxman. All we have for certain are the dates of a beginning in 1934 and a merger with Mastercraft in 1953. I guess that makes dating then easy. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Marxman)

I have restored a number of Marxman pipes and find them fun and relatively inexpensive to practice with. At the same time some are my favorite pipes to smoke. The spigot and the chunky lovat, to the left, are great smoking pipes. The lovat is one that I would surely be ridiculed for if I tried entering her in a beauty contest.

This brings us to the Marxman Regular Apple, the topic of this restoration and the photo at the top of the page. This little darling arrived as many Marxmans do – well used. That is a polite way of saying beat-up and filthy. She had a cake so thick that only a tiny bowl of tobacco could be smoked. How she avoided a cracked bowl is amazing. This cake was equally as thick as the briar walls of the tobacco chamber.

The bright lights used in these original photographs actually make her look better than the normal room lighting. I could see very little grain of any kind.

Then there was the condition of her stem – all I could think of was that a teenager with a channel-lock had heard there was a $20 bill in the shank and he was going to be the first to retrieve it.

Of course the internals were in a condition that is expected of a pipe in this state.

Other than those issues this should be fun, although fun to a restorer may not be universally accepted.

Normally I start with a thorough cleaning of the exterior of the stummel. This time I started with the reaming of the tobacco chamber. I was actually afraid that it might just burst like a balloon cracking into several pieces. Okay, slight exaggeration, there. I began with the PipNet and the Smoking pipes knife. I soon realized that I did not want to put that much pressure on the handle of my PipNet.

I got out the Tsuge reaming blade and the Scotte adjustable reamer. I started opening up the chamber one step at a time and finished with the PipNet. The aftermath of the reaming was a pile of carbon cake that if properly sequestered will aid with global carbon control. The chamber was finally sanded with 220 sandpaper on a wooden dowel. The chamber looked good with no signs of any damage from excessive heat.

With the chamber reamed I turned my attention to reaming out the shank and draft hole. I used the draft hole reamer from the Scotte tool to clear the airway. It felt rather “greasy”. I took this to mean that there was still a thick residue of tar and yuck in the shank. I tried scraping the airway with a dental pick without much success.

To the sink. I took the stummel to the sink to scrub the externals with Murphy Wood Cleaner and a medium stiff toothbrush. Given, my hands still had carbon on them from the reaming but, wow. The dirt and grime that came off the stummel with the soap was impressive. It was still impressive with the second application of Murphy’s. By the third time I removed the years of accumulated grime. Now for the shank. I started that with the nylon bore brush with Dawn dish soap. The lather produced was dark brown. This was rinsed with hot water. The bore brushing with additional Dawn and rinsing continued several cycles. Finally the lather was not brown. I was sure that the entire stummel would need to be dried overnight with all of that exposure to water.

I returned the stummel to the workbench and proceeded to wipe it down with a make-up pad soaked in 99% ethyl alcohol. The pad removed little else from the stummel, just picking up a very slight brown tint, probably a bit of dye from the wood. I poured a couple milliliters of alcohol into the chamber and sloshed it about and allowed it to fill the draft hole with my finger plugging the mortise end. The alcohol will draw much of the water out of the wood as it is very hydrophilic. I poured the remaining alcohol into a medicine cup and used a paper towel to dry the remaining alcohol from the bowl. I then used a small round needle file to feel for tar in the shank. The needle file came back with tar embedded in the teeth. Hmm, lets try a little technique I came up with – wrapping/rolling a piece of paper towel around the needle file, dip the tip in alcohol and scrub the shank. It works and it allows you to put more pressure on than you can with a cotton swab. The tip end will absorb the tars and can be unwrapped, flipped over, rerolled for a clean side. After doing this repeatedly I finally made progress cleaning the draft hole.

Here is what the Marxman Regular Apple looked like after the scrubbing:

You can really see that there is some wood grain and some big dings and chips to the rim. To the topping table. This is actually just a new piece of 220 sandpaper laid flat on the counter. I sanded in a circular pattern until I had removed most of the dings. I rotated the stummel in my hand several times to keep the pressure even across the entire rim. There was still the chip. For that I sanded until the remaining chip could be removed by beveling the inside edge of the chamber using a wooden ball wrapped in a small piece of sandpaper. After the 220 sandpaper I repeat the process with 400 sandpaper.

The left photo is topped only while the lower photo is topped and beveled.

The sanding of the stummel was done starting with 400 wet dry sandpaper. I was careful of the stampings as to not remove any material from them. After the sandpaper the stummel was

wiped off with an alcohol soaked make-up pad. I then began using the micro-mesh pads. The most coarse pad I have is 1500. This pad was used with a couple drops of water on the pad. Between pads the stummel was wiped off with the alcohol dampened make-up pad. After the 1500 came the 1800, also with a bit of water. I continued up through the micro-mesh pads to 4000, wiping between each with the alcohol.

Once the stummel had been sanded and micro-meshed I gave it a coating of Restoration Balm and allowed it to marinade in the balm while I addressed the stem. I did not soak the stem in the Deoxidizing solution since I knew that it was going to be sanded extensively in order to remove the numerous dents and teeth marks from what appeared to be pliers. The cleaning of the stem began with the removal of the stinger. Stingers or “metal filters” are

kind of a misnomer as they hardly filter the smoke. They most likely allow a surface onto which water can condense out of the smoke and maybe some smoking particles will absorb into this water but, filter? They are usually press-fit into the stem. This one was quite stuck. I tried to soften the dried residue with alcohol and used a brass brush to clean it off. Eventually I wrapped the stinger in a piece of denim and pulled it out with a pair of pliers. I then dropped the stinger into a medicine cup with alcohol to soften the dried residue. Knowing how dirty the shank had been and not wanting to use hot water on the stem and risk discoloring it. I decided to use a technique with long churchwarden bristle pipe cleaners, a pipette with alcohol and a vice. You clamp one end of the pipe cleaner in the vice, thread the stem onto the

pipe cleaner, lightly moisten the pipe cleaner with alcohol (not dripping wet, just moist) then holding the free end of the pipe cleaner tight you vigorously move the stem along the full length of the long pipe cleaner. This can be repeated as many times as needed. After an alcohol soak the stinger cleaned easily and was re-inserted into the now cleaned stem.

I had to be careful not to sand the tenon end of the stem as I did not want to change the shape or size of the stem to make fitting with the shank unsightly. I used 180 sandpaper to roughly sand the problem areas. This rough sanding was smoothed and blended by lighter sanding with 220 followed by 400 sandpaper. This was a slow process and I was sure that the results would leave a stem that had waves along the surface where I had to remove so much material in order to erase the dents. Eventually I got to the point where I was happy with the look of the stem. I then proceeded to use the finer and finer grade micro-mesh pads. The stem was wiped down with Obsidian Oil between each of the different micro-mesh pads. When finished I could still see some of the dings from the abuse but overall I was pleased with the look of the finish.

With the stem in acceptable condition and the stummel well marinated, it was time to reassemble the renovated darling. I wiped the remaining Restoration Balm off the pipe and gave it a good rub with the inside of a cotton athletic sock. It always amazes me at how well the Restoration Balm breathes life back into a piece of dry briar. Truly amazing stuff. The pipe needed a few coats of carnauba wax applied via the buffer. After the buffer waxing I hand buffed the entire pipe with a microfiber polishing cloth to add that little extra shine.

If I were a professional restorer I would have been more inclined to strive for perfection. The only problem there is how perfect can a well used 80 year old pipe get? This one will most likely be either used by me as a work-in-the-yard/fishing pipe or it will be gifted to someone and I was quite pleased at the improvement. Either way it has returned to the task that it was originally made for: To be used to smoke tobacco and look darn good doing it. I hope that you can use some of the techniques that you see here in your own work, were slightly entertained or both. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

PS: Here are those books/websites I referred to earlier:

Back From The Ashes: Uncovering the Lost History of G. L. Hunt and the Falcon Pipe,

by Worth, K. A.

Available at: https://www.amazon.com/Back-Ashes-Uncovering-History-Falcon-ebook/dp/B006VOOFNC/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=falcon+pipe+history&qid=1699996641&sr=8-1 ($2.99 digital version on Amazon)

The Peterson Pipe: The Story of Kapp & Peterson,

by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmburg

Available at: https://www.smokingpipes.com/accessories/books/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=471478 (Still available from Smokingpipes.com, though not $2.99 it is a remarkable book)

Review of: THE CUSTOM-BILT PIPE STORY, by William E. Unger, Jr.,Ph.D

https://pipedia.org/wiki/Custom-Bilt

The Pipes of Sparta: Dr. Grabow, by Leigh Ann Henion https://www.ourstate.com/the-pipes-of-sparta-dr-grabow-tobacco-pipes-north-carolina/

Below are some photos of the finished Marxman Regular Apple.